Under Yamato’s guidance, Luke closed his eyes and used his mind to sense the world around him. The instant he grasped the knack of it, it felt as though he had broken through a thin membrane. His mind suddenly opened up, like mist parting to reveal a clear world.
Even with his eyes closed, he could now perceive everything around him.
"Luke, I’m coming at you."
Yamato gave him a warning, then threw a punch at him.
Luke remained where he stood without moving his feet. He merely leaned his body slightly and tilted his head, effortlessly avoiding Yamato’s lightning-fast fist.
Yamato threw several more punches in quick succession, but Luke kept his eyes shut and evaded every single one.
"You really are a genius, Luke. You learned Observation Haki this quickly too. I think this one is the hardest."
Yamato stared at him in amazement.
But when Luke opened his eyes, he frowned slightly. "No. I feel like I’m still far from where I should be."
His sensory abilities had always been powerful, and coupled with his innate battle instincts, he had already been capable of some of the basic effects of Observation Haki.
For example, when he had fought that Explorer team in the world of Demon Slayer, the sniper had fired at him from afar. Luke had dodged without even looking, using only the smallest movements to evade with precision.
Now that he had learned Observation Haki, it merely felt as though that once-vague world of perception had become clearer. It had not brought any qualitative leap to his combat power.
Luke glanced at the skill level in his spatial menu. Once he had learned Observation Haki, it had immediately been at Level 20—far higher than his Armament Haki had been before entering this world.
He guessed that this was because he had already possessed exceptional talent for perception. Learning Observation Haki had merely systematized that talent.
"And you think that’s still lacking? It took me years to reach your level."
Yamato wore a strange expression. "Honestly, I thought I learned things fast enough, but you’re much faster than I am. If it weren’t too early, I’d have thought you were..."
She trailed off, seemingly falling back into that self-isolating spiral.
She had almost instinctively said that Luke was the hero mentioned in the journal—the one who would come to Wano Country and save it. But the journal said that would happen twenty years later, while only eight years had passed so far.
Besides, she had begun questioning whether everything written in that journal was truly correct, and whether she herself was really Kozuki Oden.
Luke noticed the shift in Yamato and did not press her further. He intended to give her more time to process it.
"I’ve learned most of the basics of Observation Haki. How about we take a break, and I tell you more about the outside world?"
Luke sat down. He was in no hurry to leave Wano Country now. Since he had started setting Yamato straight, he wanted to see it through before leaving. Besides, he could learn quite a lot from Yamato as well.
The moment Yamato heard there would be more stories, her eyes lit up. She eagerly scooted closer. "Last time, you finished talking about Sky Island, but you still haven’t told me about Fish-Man Island. Is it really a city beneath the sea?"
Seeing her childish excitement, Luke smiled and began recounting the wonders of the world beyond Wano.
Meanwhile, Kaido was growing drowsy as he watched the live broadcast. Like someone binge-watching a show, he desperately wanted to skip the boring parts.
Luke might have been young, but Kaido was not surprised that he could tell stories about all kinds of islands beyond Wano. Kaido himself had sailed the seas with the Rocks Pirates at the age of fifteen.
He knew the outside world well, so Luke’s stories held no interest for him. What he wanted to see was Luke educating his daughter.
But Luke went on telling stories for more than half a day without doing any so-called "educating" at all. Kaido became so frustrated that he wanted to fly over, grab Luke by the head, and make him educate Yamato himself.
Just as Kaido had drunk enough to start getting angry, the broadcast took an unexpected turn.
"It’s wonderful. Everything I know about the outside world comes from Kozuki Oden’s journal, but his entries were rather brief—not nearly as detailed as what you’ve told me, Luke."
After listening to one adventure, Yamato sighed wistfully. "But I know quite a bit about Wano Country. If you’re interested in Kozuki Oden’s exploits, I can tell you about them too."
Luke had not expected Yamato to bring up Kozuki Oden herself. Judging from her expression, she seemed to have brainwashed herself all over again, so Luke decided to give her another jolt.
"Sure. What I know comes only from what the locals and you told me before. Why don’t you tell me about Kozuki Oden’s childhood and how he grew up?"
Luke went along with her words first, though he had already laid a trap.
The moment Yamato heard that Luke was interested in her idol, Kozuki Oden, she immediately perked up.
She began enthusiastically, her face animated. "Kozuki Oden’s life was truly legendary..."
Yamato went into great detail, with plenty of embellishment born from idol worship. But in summary, Kozuki Oden’s early life was rather straightforward.
At the age of zero—yes, right after he was born—Kozuki Oden could hurl his wet nurse away with tremendous force. Even Luke felt inferior; his own natural superhuman strength was fake by comparison.
At two, Kozuki Oden could catch two rabbits at once, displaying astonishing speed. At four, he threw a massive boulder and killed a giant bear. Big Mom would have wept tears of envy.
At six, he began frequenting brothels. Yeah... Luke initially thought he had heard wrong, but that was apparently the truth. In Yamato’s eyes, this was one of her idol’s glorious exploits. He could already visit prostitutes at six—wasn’t that fucking badass!?
At eight, he got into a brawl with drunkards and gamblers, beating down a group of adults. At nine, he was blacklisted by the yakuza, then burned down a yakuza casino in a rage. He was arrested for violent assault.
At ten, he entered the quarry to serve his sentence as a prisoner. Yes, this was the very prison Luke was currently in. With the Kozuki family’s natural gifts, Oden eventually rose to become the foreman of the stoneworkers.
When she reached that part, Yamato looked worshipful and asked Luke whether Kozuki Oden was not amazing—he even knew masonry. Luke could only twitch at the corner of his mouth and nod.
At fourteen, Kozuki Oden altered a river’s course during a drought, causing a massive flood, and became wanted once again.
Then came the important part. At fifteen, Kozuki Oden threatened a temple abbot and secluded himself in the temple. Every night, he abducted respectable women to build a harem. Most of them were married, and the resulting public outrage led people to rise up and attack him. Oden gladly accepted the challenge, and Wano Country called it the "Harem War."
And yes, Yamato recounted this episode with the same absolute worship for her idol.
"Stop right there!"
Luke raised a hand, his expression strange. "Yamato, don’t you think there’s something seriously wrong with that?"
"What’s wrong with it? Isn’t that the hero everyone loves, Kozuki Oden?"
Yamato looked at Luke in confusion.
Luke pressed a hand to his forehead. He felt that both Yamato and the people of Wano had to be a little insane. Why would they consider a man like that Wano’s hope—the hero chosen by fate?
"Yamato, do you think abducting married women and forcing them to have sex with you is heroic?"
Luke asked Yamato seriously.
Without a second thought, Yamato replied, "Isn’t it? He’s Kozuki Oden. Everyone loves Kozuki Oden, so everything he did must have been right."
Luke nearly threw up. The son of a powerful official had used his status as the shogun’s son to drive monks out of a temple, abduct women by force, and rape them in a sacred place—and that was supposed to be right?
"Have you considered how those women felt? Have you considered how their husbands felt? Don’t you think Kozuki Oden’s actions were monstrously evil, destroying other people’s happy families?"
Luke questioned her sternly.
This time, Yamato froze. Clearly, she still possessed some basic ability to think. The more she thought about it instinctively, the more it seemed wrong. But because of her confused gender identity and her lack of understanding about sexual matters, she could not immediately put into words exactly what was wrong.
"Let me give you an example. Kozuki Oden’s wife, Kozuki Toki—you know her, right?"
To make it easier for Yamato to understand, Luke changed his approach.
Yamato nodded. "I was fortunate enough to meet her once. She was a beautiful and strong woman."
"Good, then you know. Say Kozuki Oden were still alive, and your father, Kaido, abducted Kozuki Toki and raped her. Would you consider that heroic?"
Luke offered his example.
The moment he said it, Yamato had not yet reacted, but Kaido—watching the broadcast all the way on Onigashima—furiously smashed his sake jar.
"What the hell is that brat saying!? How could I possibly do something like that!?"
Kaido roared in fury. He was indeed a notorious pirate, but his way of doing things was straightforward and honorable. That was why he had been furious when that old hag interfered in his battle with Kozuki Oden.
That was also why, after the battle ended, he had not tied Kozuki Oden up. He had even used the finest bandages on him, put him in a prison with barely any guards, and returned his two swords.
His intention had been obvious: break out of prison, and they would have another fight.
But Kozuki Oden was stubborn in his own way. He believed that a loss was a loss, and that he had to be boiled alive. Kaido could not exactly stop him. The winner ruled and the loser submitted. Kaido was not the sort to fuss over such things, so Oden died, and that was that.
And while Kaido was a pirate, he did not share Kozuki Oden’s "promiscuous" tastes. He had never forced a woman to do that sort of thing. As one of the Four Emperors and the strongest creature in the world, why would he need to force anyone?
Even now, at forty-seven, he had only one daughter, Yamato. That alone showed how clean his private life was.
For Luke to use that as an example now truly enraged Kaido.
"When I stormed the capital back then, I didn’t even kill that man’s son, much less touch that woman. This brat..."
Kaido’s expression darkened as killing intent spread from him.
"Don’t be so angry. He isn’t actually talking about you. He’s only using an example so Yamato can understand."
Black Maria, who was watching the broadcast beside Kaido, tried to soothe him while pouring him a fresh drink.
Still, as her beautiful eyes swept over the screen, her expression turned a little strange. That boy really had guts, casually making Kaido the subject of such a hypothetical right in their territory.
Inside the cell, Yamato stood stunned for a while before finally reacting. Almost instinctively, she came to an answer. "That would be absolutely unforgivable! How vile! Damn Kaido, did he really do something like that? Is that why Kozuki Oden fought Kaido!?"
Luke had expected Yamato’s answer, so he was merely speechless upon hearing it.
But Kaido, watching the broadcast elsewhere, sprayed out the sake he had just swallowed. He coughed violently, his trembling hand pointing at the screen, utterly unable to speak.
Perhaps only Yamato in the entire world could make the strongest creature alive tremble with rage.
"Calm down, calm down. I already know what Luke is going to say."
Black Maria gently patted Kaido’s back. She could tell that Luke was leading Yamato toward a conclusion.
Sure enough, Luke spoke inside the cell. "So now you understand, right? That is vile behavior. It is absolutely not heroic behavior."
Luke looked at Yamato as though she had been struck by lightning, then drove the point home. "Then why is it that when Kozuki Oden does the exact same thing, you see him as noble and glorious, but if your father did it, you think he is utterly vile?"
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